I'm the President of Sportsimpacts and the Director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. I've conducted research at Super Bowls, Final Fours, All-Star Games, Ryder Cups, and numerous Division I NCAA Championship events. www.sportsimpacts.net www.wustl.edu

Should Ray Lewis Play in Super Bowl XLVII?

In light of recent made-for-TV athlete confessions, it’s hard to take Baltimore Ravens future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis at his word this morning.

In a story featured on SI.com yesterday, Sports Illustrated is reporting that Ray Lewis requested products (specifically, deer-antler spray which contains an NFL banned substance called IGF-1) from a small health supplements company based in Alabama.

Naturally, this story surfaced the morning of Super Bowl XLVII’s Media Day. When asked about the story, Mr. Lewis dismissed the report while team executives made interesting statements such as:

“Ray has been randomly tested for banned substances and has never failed a test.” (Kevin Byrne, vice president of communications for the Ravens).

Two problems with this statement. First, we’ve seen from the Lance Armstrong saga that never failing a test is not necessarily equivalent to never having used banned substances. Second, has Mr. Lewis been tested since sustaining his triceps injury on October 14, 2012?

I imagine that Oprah Winfrey’s and Katie Couric’s people are on the phone lines now battling for Ray’s tell-all post Super Bowl XLVII. That is, unless Barbara Walters scoops them both.

On the one hand, I couldn’t care less whether Ray Lewis used deer-antler spray to accelerate his recovery so that he could play a few final games before retirement. And I’m not knowledgeable enough about IGF-1 to have an opinion regarding whether it should or should not be a banned substance.

On the other hand, there are two issues that trouble me deeply about these developments regarding fairness in sport and truthfulness as a role model.

As it relates to fairness:

- Ray Lewis, coming off injury and at age 37, is just one tackle shy of setting the all-time record for most tackles in a post-season after missing nearly 2 months of action. This smells of past scenarios where aging stars from another sport (Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds) found the fountain of youth late in their careers…many of us believe it was tainted or chemically enhanced youth.

- Point being, if Mr. Lewis has been using IGF-1 over the last few months to recuperate, and if it is a banned substance (which it is), then he has cheated the system…and should not be allowed to compete in Super Bowl XLVII.

As it relates to truthfulness:

- Within the last month we have just witnessed what happens when high-profile athletes are less than truthful about their behavior.

In Lance Armstrong’s case, the consequences of dishonesty equate to hundreds of millions of dollars lost in future earnings streams and likely legal settlements. In Manti Te’o's case, the consequences are likely to be far less debilitating financially but nonetheless immature and embarrassing.

I understand why Ray Lewis, if guilty of wrong-doing, would delay the truth until after Super Bowl XLVII. He wants to play in the game, he wants to ride out his career under the glory of a second championship, and he wants to minimize the distraction for his teammates.

But if there is indeed more to this story, and if Mr. Lewis has been less than forthcoming, then he better be prepared to sit on somebody’s couch in the near future to address lingering issues.

Until he does, this could hurt his post-career earnings potential from either endorsements, speaking engagements, or a lucrative career in television.

And perhaps more importantly, his legacy of leadership.

My final thoughts on this subject:

- If we’ve learned nothing else from the last decade of sports, we know that (1) many athletes will try to win at all costs, and (2) the ugly truth almost always comes to light…and with it, damaging financial and reputational effects.

- If the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the world, and given the two weeks in between championship games and Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL should drug test all Super Bowl participants in the future to ensure that the world’s greatest professional sporting spectacle this side of the World Cup Finals is being contested by clean athletes.

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